Hollywood star Sir Ian McKellen has told how he finally feels accepted and no longer discriminated against because he is gay.

The X-Men actor, 73, said he thinks about death every day and that despite being single, he is not lonely.

He told the Radio Times: "One of the reasons I became an actor was because I wasn't self-confident... That was compounded by the fact that being gay was illegal in this country until I was 28 years old. That doesn't do much for your self-confidence.

"Now I'm in a country where the laws don't discriminate any longer. I feel accepted and about b****y time, frankly.

"That - plus the fact that I'm still working and still have my health - means I'm as happy now as I've ever been."

Sir Ian, who stars with Sir Derek Jacobi in ITV comedy Vicious, about a gay couple, said he has had a lift installed in his east London home so that he can still live there when he cannot walk.

"Do I think about death? Yes, every day. People of our age, when we get together, talk about decrepitude all the time. We know we've got our lives behind us now.

"Friends keep dying, or get very ill. I've got a lot of young friends - that's how I bolster myself against the inevitable," he said.

"I've just arranged my house so that I'll still be able to live in it when I can't walk, so now there's a lift in it."